The Cubans arrived in the Russian capital with a mixture of youth and experience in the squad and it was the experienced heads that saw them through the match, as the Russians sought to press home the advantage of competing in front of their crowd.

The night opened with the light flyweight contest between Belik Galanov and the number one ranked Cuban Yosbany Veitia Soto, seeking to make it seven wins from seven outings in this season's WSB.

Veitia Soto showed why he is considered one of the top fighters in the whole competition, as he outclassed Galanov with a slick showing to take the win comfortably.

The home side hit back straight away however, in the form Vladimir Nikitin, who came out on top in his bantamweight bout with Norlan Yera, who was making his WSB debut.

Both men suffered nasty cuts above their left eye but it was the Russian who eventually prevailed in a hard-fought contest to preserve his 100 per cent record this season.

The pendulum swung back in the visitors' favour after fight number three, as number one ranked light welterweight Yasnier Toledo looked in superb nick against Maxim Dadashev.

The Russian, a World Championship silver medallist at youth level, kept going right to the end but had no answer to the class and skill of Toledo as he took the win.

Vladimir Nikitin came through a tough battle with Norlan Yera to claim a crucial win for Russia ©WSB



Despite a late flurry in the final round of the contest, Cuba's second debutant on the night, Arlen Lopez,lost out to Artem Chebotarev in their middleweight bout.

The powerful Russian's main weapon was his hammer of a right hand which he used to great effect, and the inexperienced Lopez could not find a way to stop the barrage throughout the fight.

Chebotarev took the win to leave the scores level at 2-2 going into the final contest of the night.

Both Eugeniy Tischenko of Russia and the Domadores' Erislandy Savon were putting their undefeated records in the season's WSB on the line when they entered the ring for their heavyweight clash.

But in truth, the result never really looked in doubt from the outset as Savon looked a class apart, picking off his opponent with some crisp punches and eventually taking the win by unanimous decision to take his record in for the season to 6-0.

Despite that loss, the Russians will at least travel to the Ciudad Deportiva in Havana on May 2 with hopes very much of alive of causing an upset in the second-leg and booking their place in the final.

The other semi-final sees defending champions Astana Arlans Kazakhstan host the Azerbaijan Baku Fires on Saturday (April 26) before the return leg at the Guba Olympic Complex on May 3.

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